Pretend
by fantacination
Summary: Wonderland, Zexion decided, was the most illogical place in the worlds. It’s not even a real world. But a dream of a world that somehow took root. An illusion. [genfic, although slight AliceZexion if you squint and look sideways, mayhap].


**Title**: Pretend

**Author: **fantacination

**Disclaimer**: Kingdom Hearts and all related belong to Square Enix and Disney. We writers just play around with the pretty characters.

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Wonderland, Zexion decided, was the most illogical place in the worlds.

It's not even a real world. But a dream of a world that somehow took root. An illusion. And perhaps that was why they saw fit to send him there on a field reconnaissance mission. That didn't mean he liked it, however. With an irritated sigh, the Schemer walked irritably past a bodiless grin and pushed past the multitude of oversized flora- straight into another warm body.

"Oh!" came a surprised voice as the owner fell to the grass, sky-blue skirt ballooning slightly around her like an overturned blossom.

Zexion stepped back in uncharacteristic surprise. _Would wonders ever cease_, he thought dryly. Now there was a human girl in this place to boot. She looked a little like the Witch, he noted, the same golden-blonde hair and limpid eyes. Unlike the Witch, however, she was apparently inclined to chatter.

"Who are you? You don't look like you come from around here, and goodness, it feels like I've met everyone in this place already." She stood up nimbly, a girl used to playing about outdoors. "That was very rude, you know, you shouldn't treat a little lady like that. Manners Mistress says so."

She paused, as if something had only just then occurred to her. "My name's Alice, may I know yours, dear sir?" there was something very prim and stiff about her voice, as though she were trying to be as grown up and polite as she could be- while looking as though she wanted nothing more than to ask him all sorts of questions.

"I am not nice, little girl," Zexion sneered, throwing out an arm to the side. Instantly, the area around them waved and ran into melting little pools as though everything had suddenly turned into wax under a very hot flame. It lasted a second and then suddenly where there had been cheerful, bright colors, everything was in shades of darkening blue-gray-_black_. Flowers grew teeth, butterflies, dagger-sharp wings, and the too-wide catless smile turning jagged before being blotted out in the dark.

The lily-white hand that had been extended towards him withdrew to be placed on a small cherried mouth. But it wasn't fear in her eyes. It was fascination, like an audience member entranced at a curious display.

The Nobody's eyes narrowed slightly at her.

"I've been here for a while now," she informed him. "I'm used to such things. It's never real. Schoolmistress tells me I am most logical for a girl. 'Mind over matter' she always used to tell us all. Although, sometimes I'm not sure what to think of it anymore." She trailed off, one hand twisting idly in golden hair.

Putting mind over matter and the workings and nuances thereof was something the illusionist was well familiar with. Seldom though it may be that people remembered the advice. But then, it was a fairly tame illusion, after all. And she was just an odd fool of a human girl.

Zexion had all of 3 inches on her, much to his chagrin, but he made full use of it now. Even if height was the most brainless of the ways one could intimidate others. He looked down at her and started to speak in the deathly quiet voice that was a mark of his former scientist self.

"I could have something swallow you whole, I could choke the life out of you, I could kill you in an infinite number of ways an infinite number of times." The shadows lashed around him, an infernal backdrop of shifting night. They let out small tendrils that snapped at the hem of the blonde's skirt like crocodiles with smiling serrated jaws.

She brushed off the nightmares as if they were specks of dust on her pristine apron.

Then she looked up at him with her clear cornflower eyes. "I thought you might be different," Alice said slowly, "I suppose you're mad, after all. But not quite like the others." And with a sad little smile, she placed a hand over where his heart might have been, once.

"You can't even play pretend."

-fin-

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A/N: It's remarkably refreshing to write gen. :D It was fun to make all sorts of wonderland allusions (ok, so maybe just one real wonderland story allusion) and Zexy's powers make for nice wonderhellish description. I hope I got them both IC  And the last line might be confusing but I thought it made sense on so many layers.


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